History up for auction: Bank forecloses on Ioka theater

EXETER — The historic Ioka theater is being foreclosed upon and is scheduled for public auction Thursday.

Aaron Sanborn

EXETER — The historic Ioka theater is being foreclosed upon and is scheduled for public auction Thursday.

The public auction was announced on the theater's marquee, which simply states "Public Auction of this Building Dec. 1, 2011, 11 a.m."

Since closing as a theater in 2008, the building has struggled to find a business identity in the community.

Current owner Roger Detzler, of Immer Besser LLC, reopened the building last year as an ice cream parlor/diner called Ioka Cafe and a downstairs club, 48 Below. The club and cafe closed earlier this year.

Detzler did not return calls seeking comment about the building's impending auction.

In November, the building's mortgage holder, People's United Bank in Dover, filed a notice of foreclosure sale on the building, citing "breach of conditions of the mortgage."

Beyond saying that the terms of the mortgage were violated, the bank's attorney, Franklin Jones, declined to comment.

Immer Besser LLC owes the town $27,673.08 in taxes for 2009-2011, which the town should recoup in the auction process, according to Town Finance Director Doreen Ravell.

Ravell said the bank paid the $3,584.70 Immer Besser LLC owed to the town for 2008, which would've been its deedable year, in order to hold the auction.

Thursday's auction will be conducted by St. Jean Auctioneers of Epping.

The assessed value of the property is $350,900, according to the property's auction description.

News of the impending auction has created some uncertainty in the community about the building's future.

In 2008, a group of citizens formed The Exeter Theater Company, a nonprofit organization to save the theater.

"It's sad that it has come to this," said Carol Walker Aten, an Exeter Theater Company member. "I hope whoever buys it is interested in keeping it a theater."

Aten said the Exeter Theater Company is still organized and will wait to see what happens following Thursday's auction. She said if there's interest in keeping the building a theater, the group would be ready to step forward and support the effort.

The property, which is located in the heart of the downtown at 55 Water St, is in the historic district. The building can't be torn down or significantly altered on the exterior, according to Exeter Historical Society curator Barbara Rimkunas.

Like Aten, Rimkunas said she is hopeful whoever buys the building won't stray too far from its history.

"I'd like to see it as a theater, film or performance," she said.

At the time of the theater's closure in 2008, Detzler cited a "hostile work environment" and the high cost of installing a sprinkler system, as reasons for its closure.

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